NIU baseball (7-14, 4-2 MAC) dropped its matinee slugfest to Illinois State University (10-9) Wednesday by a score of 16-12. 

In a game where the Huskies gave up 16 runs, NIU used nine pitchers over eight innings with freshman pitcher Alex Day having the longest outing of the day at 1.1 innings. 

NIU pitching gave up a total of 10 runs in the first three innings and trailed 10-2 after the third inning. 

Redshirt junior pitcher Matt Salomonson and senior pitcher Ryan Linkletter were the first two Huskie pitchers used in the game. Both pitchers gave up four runs on three hits in one inning of work. Salomonson was also tagged with the loss in the game. 

PRODUCTIVE BATTERS

NIU’s sixth through ninth batters finished a combined 5-for-10 and produced seven of the Huskies’ 12 runs in the contest. 

Freshman outfielder Charlie Parcell opened the contest by depositing the first pitch he saw over the wall for a home run. Parcell’s home run was the only lead NIU had in the game. 

Senior infielder Eric Erato continued his hot streak, picking up another three hit game. Erato finished Wednesday’s contest  3-for-5 with two runs batted in and raised his season batting average to a team high .378. 

Junior outfielder and former Redbird JP Gauthier finished with a 2-for-3 performance, including a home run and three RBIs. The Illinois State transfer matched his RBI total with the Redbirds last year after today’s performance. 

Senior infielder Andre Demetral also had a big game at the plate out of the nine-hole, going 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Demetral also picked up his first long ball of the year in the fourth inning. 

“We’ve been waiting for Andre to get going,” said NIU baseball head coach Ryan Copeland via NIU Athletics. “He’s been really good about getting on base. He was all over the barrel today which is good to see, especially knowing that he’s been up towards the top of the lineup for the most part to get that production. This was a big game for JP (Gauthier) too, obviously starting his career at Illinois State. He did a good job staying within himself, took a couple of walks, and hit a home run which hopefully gets him going.”

MISSING SUMMER RIGHT NOW

After the Huskies’ series finale game against the University of Cincinnati on March 3, senior outfielder/catcher Colin Summerhill was hitting .347, good for first on the team. After Wednesday’s matchup against Illinois State, Summerhill’s season average dropped to .240. 

Summerhill finished the game 0-for-4 while stranding five runners on the base paths.

UP NEXT

The Huskies will be back in action at 2 p.m. Friday in Oxford, Ohio, against Miami University for the first game of a three-game set. The game will be streamed on Chatterbox Sports and live stats will be available via SIDEARM Stats.